Is it acceptable to request feedback?

kaza

I just wondered if experienced business sellers think its acceptable to message buyers says 3 weeks after a purchase and check everything was ok, and ask them to leave feedback?

I always leave the buyer feedback when they purchase, but only seem to get about 50% back, which is 100%.

Any thoughts welcomed

Thanks
Karen

Gene_Hunt_2

No, don't ask. Just leave your feedback and forget it.

soolin

Gene_Hunt wrote: »

No, don't ask. Just leave your feedback and forget it.

I agree, never ask.

Sometimes buyers don't leave feedback for a good reason, don't push them into leaving something you might regret.

Feedback is not terribly important for sellers anyway as long as you maintain good stars and have nothing bad on your expanded seller dashboard. I'd prefer no feedback rather than poor stars.

chancesare_2

eBay now send out emails asking buyers for feedback up to 50 days after a transaction, what is worse is the buyers think the email is from the seller!

pinkclouds

I don't think it's acceptable to ask for feedback, as it is optional. I don't ask my buyers and I don't always remember to post feedback for my sellers (although I do try to remember most of the time).

However, I think checking that there are no problems with a transaction is completely different and okay to do e.g. if you're worried a recorded/special delivery item hasn't been collected (I think they get returned to sender after a week or so).

Lottie-B

There's nothing more annoying than a seller badgering a buyer for feedback.
As for those emails that ebay send out, sellers need to disable them - I can't stand them!

Crowqueen

I can't say I'm bothered by the equivalent from Amazon, so some buyers at least will just ignore them like they ignore most spam from online retailers. Every time I log on to my inbox, I have to wipe half-a-dozen spam emails from sites I've signed up to or sites that I buy from, so don't think everyone is particularly irritated by them. People complain about it on the forums, but I think that over-emphasises what all big online retailers tend to do with payment emails, dispatch emails, feedback emails...eBay are just doing what everyone else does.

I think if you are going to do a follow-up, don't mention feedback. No news is good news though - if a buyer is upset, you will hear from them, if they haven't got the item, you will hear from them, and if they don't leave feedback, don't chase it - I leave FB on eBay because I'm hanging around the forums a lot of the time; I think if I was just a casual buyer then I might not really bother. I'm buying an item, not the ability to give the seller feedback. However, I think the ability to leave feedback for buyers actually makes them more likely to leave it in return - it's amazing how it works as a psychological carrot: I think the figure I've heard quoted is 70% still leaving it, which would probably sharply decrease if buyer feedback was taken away.

terra_ferma

Lottie-B wrote: »

There's nothing more annoying than a seller badgering a buyer for feedback.
As for those emails that ebay send out, sellers need to disable them - I can't stand them!

Sellers cannot disable them, Ebay sends them, as they do with other emails, without any inputs from sellers.

forgotmyname

Did you leave the buyer feedback? I got fed up of sellers not leaving me feedback so i dont bother now.

I paid instantly so why have they not left me feedback? They cannot leave negatives anymore anyway.

annie-c

I never ask for feedback as a seller, though I always leave it, both as a buyer and seller.

I usually leave positive feedback for my buyers as soon as I notice that payment is made. Then, straight after a despatch I send a note saying something like: "Many thanks for prompt payment. I despatched your item by Royal Mail this morning and have left positive feedback on your profile". I figure that this alerts them to the giving of feedback but is not a request.

So far I think I probably have received about 80-90% feedback from my buyers.

youngone90

The last time a seller asked me for feedback was when I had not received the item she sent, and she tried to chase it up and then sent me a replacement (which was actually in better condition than the one I had bought in the first place) and she sent it first class straight away. I didn't have a problem with the seller asking as she was very helpful and obviously now out of pocket. However yesterday I received a request for feedback for an item I have not yet received. This was very irritating.